Swapping CD changers in P1 Volvos (S40, V50, C30, C70)
 

So, a friend and I have recently gotten into the whole 'changing the CD player of the P1 Volvo S40' ordeal. Having little to no experience with this particular subject, our initial assumption was that it should all boil down to a rather simple plug-and-play swap (oh, how wrong we were).

Anyway, this forum has a lot of useful information that has helped a lot, but we still have a handful of questions that we couldn't find the answers to. That's why I've resorted to making a new thread (hope it's helpful to other people who may be looking into the matter as well).

So, here's what we've learned so far:

Changing the CD player is possible (but not the entire unit)

Swapping out the entire CD player unit is not possible, however, replacing only the internals is. In other words, as far as I understand, the PCB in the outer metal casing of the CD player/changer itself is paired to the ECU and needs to be kept. So, if I'm not mistaken, you can either:

1. Change the internals of the busted CD unit and keep the PCB.
2. Transplant the PCB into a new CD unit, provided that it is compatible (and on that topic - is there a compatibility list of version/revisions of the CD units on P1 Volvos).

Swapping a single CD unit with a 6CD changer

Here's where things get murky. Is it possible to change a single CD unit for a 6CD one, provided that the original PCB that's paired to the ECU is kept in place?

Sorry for the long post! Any further information would be greatly appreciated!

Nope. Totally different PCB. Only way to get a 6CD changer in that I know of is to get a new one coded to the vehicle from Volvo. Likely to cost the same as your car may be worth ;-)

High performance hi fi
 

I have recently bought an 04 V50 diesel with a 6 cd changer that wont take a disc. It seems they are expensive to code.....I am quite happy to take it apart (I suspet there will be paper in it) , but how do I recode? is it Volvo only? Is it not like a Ford (its a Focus after all) where there are sites that will work a code from the serial?

Taking it apart and putting it back together shouldn't require a recode. I recently took apart my 6CD changer to install a Bluetooth module and no recoding was necessary. As for swapping another one in—as far as I understand—it shouldn't be an issue, provided that you find a changer with the same part number and swap it with your (potentially) faulty one. The important part would be to connect it to your original PCB in the metal casing of the unit (though I could be wrong).

So, this is a question of the car recognising the unit rather than a question of an anti theft code?




BTW, I forgot my manners....sorry!

Thankyou Waveslate....

no anti theft code
the system has MOST

Volvo S40 (2005) 6CD changer COMPLETELY dead
 

So, I'm bumping this thread because I ran into a problem with the 6CD changer in my S40 2.4i 2005 (Premium Sound). And when I say 'problem', I mean it completely died yesterday, although the radio is working just fine.

Long story short, the CD player suddenly stopped playing audio. Trying to eject the disc does nothing - there is no mechanical sound coming from the inside. The display simply says "Ejecting" for some time before throwing an error. Pressing the different number buttons to change between disks registers on the screen (it says that the disc is changing), however the CD changer itself is doing nothing inside. Here's a short video of the issue (which I cannot embed for whatever reason):

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F4fePoCPSQQ

So, naturally, I took the whole thing apart and noticed that only one of the lights in the optical cable that goes into the audio unit is lighting up. Could that be the problem? Shouldn't the two lights be on at the same time? I'm attaching a picture.

https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/s5...-no?authuser=0

Some time ago, a friend of mine had the CD player in his S40 act up (single CD unit). It couldn't read or eject the disk, but at least it was trying to! Pressing the eject button made it rattle inside like it was trying to do something. We hit a scrapyard, found the same unit and simply transplanted the CD mechanism into his car. I'm not sure if this will work in my case, since the issue could be coming from the optical cable? Does anyone have any insight into this problem? Thanks!

The optical cable is fine. There should only be light in one of the leads when you hold it like that, the other is illuminated from the audio unit when the plug is hooked up to it.

I think you have a mechanical problem instead.

Thanks for the suggestion! As far as the mechanical problem goes, it's just a bit weird that the unit has ZERO response to any button presses (as shown in the video). My previous experience with faulty Volvo CD players (and all the threads I've read online) suggest that the unit is almost always trying to do something when you press a button (e.g. you press "Eject" and the gears inside are crunching, there's a mechanical sound going on, but then the process fails). Mine is completely silent, which is weird... maybe something has shorted out?

Find independent volvo garage or dealer and ask to remove MOST, software 30667249 and then any cd will work as long as 6 disc for 6 disc otherwise another software is needed in CEM to code different level of equipment. Software cost is £18 and cost of labour is extra